The Foreign Language Learning questionnaire includes two tables (ENRLLNG1 and ENRLLNG2) and two metadata-sheets (ENRLLNG-CHANGES and ENRLLNG-METADATA).

- ENRLLNG1: number of pupils/students learning specific foreign languages.

- ENRLLNG2: number of pupils/students by number of foreign languages studied and age.

The Regional Enrolment questionnaire includes two tables (REGIO1 and REGIO2) and one metadata-sheet (REGIO-CHANGES).

- REGIO1: number of pupils/students by level of education, gender and region.

- REGIO2: number of pupils/students by age, gender and region.

Reference period

The data collection launched on year Y has as reference period the school year Y-2 / Y-1. For example, for the 2011 data collection, the reference period is 2009 / 2010.

Scope of the data collection

This data collection is closely linked to the UOE data collection. The scope and the definitions used in the UOE data collection, such as level of education, programme orientation and age, apply to the language and regional questionnaires.

Detailed methodological information on the scope of the UOE data collection and the definitions adopted can be found on the CIRCA site:

UOE data collection

Foreign Language Learning

The aim of this questionnaire is to measure the extent of language study in education as the scope is defined in the UOE data collection. The purpose is to evaluate the degree of availability of and contact with spoken living languages during education/training.

The ENRLLNG questionnaire collects data on the number of pupils/students learning foreign languages which are taught as subjects of instruction. Such languages should be taken into account, even if they are also used as instruction languages in the country. A language is considered as an instruction language when it is not the subject of instruction but rather the medium to transmit content.

For example, in Luxembourg, in ISCED 1, German is used as an instruction language by all students. In addition, it is taught as a subject of instruction.

The questionnaire includes all modern spoken living languages that are taught as "foreign languages". Ancient Greek, Latin, Esperanto and sign languages should therefore be excluded. The educational curriculum drawn up by the central education authorities in each country defines the languages, which are to be considered as “foreign languages” in the country. Regional or minority languages (for example, Basque, Catalan, Galician and Valencian in Spain) should be taken into account and reported into the row "Other modern languages", if they are considered as alternatives to foreign languages in the curriculum.

The cases of taught foreign languages to be included in the data collection are those where they are studied as compulsory subject or as a compulsory curriculum option. See definitions in the box below.

Foreign languages studied as extra-curricula subject have to be excluded as well as the following categories:

- Non-nationals studying their native language in special classes or those studying the language of the host country;

- Pupils/students from international schools that are not under authority of the Ministry of Education.

- Pupils/students with special education needs enrolled in special schools.

Compulsory subject: The study of foreign language(s) is included in the minimum curriculum; i.e. the pupils are obliged to study it/them.

Some examples:

- in the Netherlands, English is imposed as a first foreign language from the age of 10.

- in the French-speaking Community of Belgium, the study of a first foreign language (to be chosen among German, English or Dutch) is imposed from the age of 10.

- in Greece, the study of a second foreign language (to be chosen among German, French or English) is imposed from the age of 12.

Compulsory curriculum option: Refers to a case when pupils are obliged to choose from several subjects in order to cover part of their minimum curriculum and to complete the required number of hours specified in the curriculum. Foreign languages are proposed as compulsory curriculum option (among other subjects).

For example, in Portugal, 12-year-old students are offered the possibility to study English, French or German among a choice of various options (e.g. sciences etc...).

A further distinction can be made between two cases: either the institution is obliged to offer a foreign language among the range of compulsory options or the institution is free to include a foreign language among the compulsory options. Both should fall in this category.

Institutions can also be at liberty to impose a foreign language as compulsory subjects or compulsory options. In this case, it is not possible to distinguish between compulsory subjects and compulsory curriculum options.

The study of languages in all the above cases is INCLUDED in the data collection.

Extra-curricula subject: A subject that is offered in addition to the minimum curriculum, i.e. the pupil is not obliged to study it. The study of these languages in these cases is EXCLUDED from the data collection.

For example, if Spanish is chosen to be studied as an extra-curricular activity, i.e. in addition to the required number of hours specified in the curriculum, it should be considered as an optional elective subject.

Regional Enrolment

Data in the REGIO questionnaire are to be provided by region according to NUTS 2006/EU-27 classification (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) at level II, available at the following address:

NUTS classification

Pupils/students should be counted in the region in which they study and not in the region where they are resident.

Changes in the questionnaires from 2010 to 2011

For the 2011 data collection, the ENRLLNG and REGIO questionnaires have been simplified, deleting elements which were not strictly necessary and improving the layout of all tables.

Changes concerning ALL THE TABLES are as follows:

- a SUM function has been introduced (see below in the 'Instructions for the completion of the tables' paragraph);

- the 'School year start' and 'end' fields have been deleted;

- the 'Data collection period' field has been deleted;

- the 'Sources' and the 'Methods' fields have been deleted;

- the 'Reference school year' field has been introduced (already completed by default into the metadata-sheet);

- the 'COUNTRY' field has been locked (country has to be entered into the metadata-sheet);

Table ENRLLNG1

- Column 3 (referred to ISCED3 all educational programmes) has been deleted;

- Row B1 (referred to the number of students enrolled) has been deleted;

- Row A99 (referring to those learning languages that are unspecified) has been introduced;

- the table is pre-filled with 'n'.

Table ENRLLNG2

- The 'Additional data check tool' has been removed;

- the 'Reference school year' field has been introduced (already completed by default).

ENRLLNG-METADATA sheet

- the 'COUNTRY' field has been introduced;

- the 'Reference school year' field has been introduced (already completed by default).

ENRLLNG-CHANGES sheet No major changes.

ENRLLNG1_TXT and ENRLLNG2_TXT have been removed.

Changes concerning ALL THE TABLES of the REGIO questionnaire are as follows:

- The codes of the rows were changed and now the are composed of the NUTS2 code of the region and the gender;

Table REGIO1

- Rows concerning the 'total=males+females' at NUTS2 level have been deleted;

- Rows concerning the NUT1 sub-totals have been deleted;

- Column 3 (referred to ISCED123 programmes) has been deleted;

- Column 6 (referred to ISCED3 all educational programmes) has been deleted;

- Column 9 (referred to ISCED4 all educational programmes) has been deleted;

- Column 12 (referred to ISCED5&6 all educational programmes) has been deleted;

- Column 16 (referring to Not allocated by level) is pre-filled with 'n';

- the 'Reference date for ages' field has been deleted.

Table REGIO2

- Rows concerning the 'total=males+females' at NUTS2 level have been deleted;

- Rows concerning the NUT1 sub-totals have been deleted.

REGIO-CHANGES sheet

- the 'COUNTRY' field has been introduced;

- the 'Reference school year' field has been introduced (already entered by default).

REGIO1_TXT and REGIO2_TXT have been removed.

Instructions for the completion of the tables

Getting and opening the questionnaires

The electronic questionnaires are available in CIRCA:

ENRLLNG

REGIO

The Excel questionnaires contain macros which provide automatic computation of subtotals which take into account the codes introduced in the basic cells. They also provide some basic validation of the values and codes inserted in the tables.

In order to allow the macros to work properly, before opening the file, please make sure that Excel is set up as "medium" protection.

How to do it? If you are running an English version of Excel 2003, you can do it going to the 'Tools' menu, pointing to 'Macros', then to 'Security' and then choosing the 'Medium' security level.

In order to start completing the questionnaires, the procedure is slight different between the Foreign Language Learning and the Regional Enrolment questionnaires.

Foreign Language Learning Tables

1. Open the file selecting "enable macros";

2. fill in the cell 4C with the name of the country in ENRLLNG-METADATA sheet, then it will be automatically copied in the other sheets;

3. the Reference school year is already set up by default. Change it if necessary in ENRLLNG-METADATA sheet, then it will be automatically copied in the other sheets;

4. start compiling the questionnaire.

Regional Enrolment Tables

1. Open the file selecting "enable macros";

2. choose your country from the list;

3. push the button 'create questionnaire';

4. the Reference school year is already set up by default. Change it if necessary in ENRLLNG-METADATA sheet, then it will be automatically copied in the other sheets;

5. start compiling the questionnaire.

Automatic computation of sub-totals

The automatic computation of sub-totals in the tables is done via the use of a special sum function. The sum function (SUM_UOE) treats properly the codes according to the rules defined in the UOE manual. The purpose of the use of such sum function is to facilitate the process of completing the tables for the data providers.

Without this function, in the presence of 'm' and 'x' codes, data providers would have to overwrite the '0' resulting from the sum formula. The current version of the sum function is able to face with the codes returning as a result the correct code according to the following rules as defined into the UOE manual:

a+a=a

x+x=x

n+n=n

m+m=m

a+m=m

a+n=n

a+x=x

a+v=v

n+v=v

n+m=m

n+x=x

v+m=m

v+x=x

x+m =m

Automatic validation of values inserted

The Excel questionnaires do some pre-validation of the values introduced in the cells. It checks for the introduction of a correct code ('a', 'n', 'm' and 'x') and zeros. It also checks the validity of the row or column codes used in the 'x' code. When an invalid code is introduced the user is warned with a message and he/she can cancel or confirm the introduction of the code. If the invalid code is confirmed the concerned cell is coloured in red and the sub-total returns an error.

Currently, in some cases the sum function can not treat properly the case with an 'x' code. Because of that, the data provider should check the result in the sub-total and if needed overwrite it with the correct sum according to the rules.

ENRLLNG1

Number of pupils/students by level of education, programme orientation and foreign language studied

Table ENRLLNG1, which collects data on the number of pupils/students learning specific languages, includes all 23 official EU languages as well as other languages taught such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian. A category (A25) is available for specifying other modern languages being learned and one (A99) for those cases where the specific language studied is not known.

Each pupil/student studying a modern foreign language should be counted once for each language he/she is studying; this means that students studying more than one language should be counted as many times as the number of languages studied in the educational level they are in. Row A26 includes double counting of students who study more than one language.

The number of students studying other modern foreign spoken languages should be specified in row A25. The student should be counted in A25 as many times as the number of other modern foreign languages he/she studies.

The number of students for whom it is known that he/she studies a modern foreign spoken language, but it is not known which specific language, should be reported in row A99. It is not to be reported in category A25. The student should be counted as many times as the number of languages he studies and which are not known.

ENRLLNG2

Number of pupils/students by level of education, programme orientation, number of modern foreign languages studied and age

The information in ENRLLNG2 is reported broken down by age. Row A18 allows recording the number of students which cannot be reported according to their age.

The number of students studying 'no foreign languages', 'one foreign language' and '2 or more foreign languages' should add up to the total number of students studying at a given level. The total number of pupils reported in row A1 for each ISCED level should correspond to the total recorded in row A1 of ENRL1 table. The totals in table ENRLLNG2 and ENRL1 differ by the number of pupils with special needs education enrolled in special schools (SNE), as in the table below:

Table	Row	Column		Table	Row	Column
ENRLLNG2	A1	1	=	ENRL1	A1	4	-	SNE pupils in level 1
ENRLLNG2	A1	5	=	ENRL1	A1	6	-	SNE pupils in level 2
ENRLLNG2	A1	9	=	ENRL1	A1	10	-	SNE pupils in level 3GEN
ENRLLNG2	A1	13	=	ENRL1	A1	11	-	SNE pupils in level 3PVVOC

If the totals are not equal, provide an explanation in the footnotes.

REGIO1

Number of pupils/students by level of education, programme orientation, gender and region

The total number of students reported in the first row should correspond to the total number of students recorded in row A1 of the ENRL1 table. If the totals are not equal, provide an explanation in the footnotes.

REGIO2

Number of pupils/students by age, gender and region

The total number of students reported in the first row should correspond to the total number of students recorded in column 1 of the ENRL1 table. If the totals are not equal, provide an explanation in the footnotes.

Return of completed questionnaires to Eurostat

The regional questionnaire should be completed by 21 Member States of the European Union (Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta are not required to provide regional data) as well as for two candidate countries (Croatia and Turkey) and two EFTA countries (Switzerland and Norway). Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are not required to provide regional data.

The completed tables should be returned to Eurostat via eDAMIS by the 30th September of the year when the data collection is launched.

eDAMIS (electronic Data files Administration and Management Information System) is Eurostat standard system to exchange data files. It guaranties secure (encrypted) transmission of all data and offers services such as traffic monitoring, acknowledgements and reminders. It can be accessed via the web in the following address: eDAMIS.

If you are not able to send it via eDAMIS you can use in alternative the following email address:

estat-uoe-joint@ec.europa.eu

Please put this address in copy for all message exchanges during the verification process for these tables.

An indication of the data collection year is introduced in the name of the file. For example, for the data collection year 2011 and Language questionnaire it should bear the name "11Lang". "11Regio" would stand for "Data collection year 2011 - Regional questionnaire".

Please, do not change the name of the file.

Contact Eurostat

For any for further clarification, technical issue and any other problem related to ENRLLNG and REGIO questionnaires do not hesitate to contact us:

Ms Lene Mejer Tel: +352/-/430135423

European Commission Fax: +352/-/430131082

EUROSTAT Email: Lene.Mejer@ec.europa.eu

Unit F-4,

Education, Science and Culture Statistics

Office BECH-B3/431

L-2920 Luxembourg